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With a midnight opening three times higher than Avatar and a December opening day record of $38 million on Friday, Peter Jackson's magnificent return to Tolkien territory has left doubters in its dust, with audiences scoring the film with a firm "A" grade.

In fact, it looks likely that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey might even set a new December opening weekend record by close of business Saturday, before Sunday's receipts even start to roll in. Figuring in the initial foreign receipts as well, The Hobbit is already at $94 million worldwide, a highly impressive sum for such a short time.

After some last-minute jitters due to dubious complaints from a large segment of top critics and some unrestrained hyperbolic backlash from certain segments of the online fan-site community, The Hobbit proved it will overcome the obstacles and that the more extreme criticisms are a minority view without the weight to slow down the film's theatrical run.

Now that this prequel franchise to Jackson's blockbuster Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings trilogy has proven its mettle, the next question is, how high will it go? I think a billion dollar run is inevitable, driven by foreign receipts likely to exceed those of the previous entries in the Tolkien series, due to the vast expansion and popularity of IMAX theaters and 3D overseas.

While other reviewers might be mixed or unenthusiastic about The Hobbit, here at Forbes so far it's got a perfect record -- besides my giddily happy assessment, my esteemed colleagues Carol Pinchefsky and Erik Kain both gave the movie their seal of approval as well (and wrote excellent reviews, which you should read by clicking those links).

While my review focuses a lot of debunking some of the most common complaints about the film, their reviews delve into more detail about the film's comparisons to the book and why the film got things mostly right.

Have you seen The Hobbit yet, dear readers? If not, you should. If so, let us know what you thought by sounding off in the comments below!